The doors leading from the kitchen and back porch to the back work area were too low—they did not take into account that the floor of the work area is 8" higher than that of the adjacent rooms. As a result, I hit the lintel with my head whenever I went through the doors with a bounce in my step. We decided to replace the doors with taller ones that have the proper height from the work area floor. [It was too cold in January 2009 anyway to work on the main project in the unheated garage].
In itself, this is a routine project that does not deserve any explicit documentation. I show it here only to illustrate a point that may be familiar to anyone attempting to remodel an old house: Whenever you open a wall, you can expect to find the unexpected. In the present case, the beam forming the lintel over the door to the back porch turned out to be almost grotesquely oversized for the small load it had to carry—it took me two days to take it and the masonry on top of it out and cart away the debris.
Last change made to this page: February 19, 2009
